The Island
by Rin Bluegold
Summary: A storm leaves the Gaang stranded on an uncharted island, and their bending is switched! But their bending isn't the only thing that's changed between them...feelings have been altered as well.
1. The Storm

**This is Rin Bluegold, presenting my first fanfiction post, THE ISLAND!!! It's been stuck in my head for a year and a half now, and I think it's high time I typed it up instead of leaving it to rot away in an old notebook under my bed.  
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**Enjoy!  
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The sun was just peeking over the eastern horizon when the Avatar and his friends set out for the Southern Water Tribe. They'd spent the past year in the Earth Kingdom, helping to rebuild the cities and villages ravaged by the war. Katara could hardly wait to see her home again. She couldn't sleep at all the night before knowing that she was finally going home again.

They were all going, even Zuko. He wanted to spend the next month winning the villagers' trust and friendship, something that he'd already accomplished in the Earth Kingdom. Peace and unity were to be the foundations of his rule in the Fire Nation, so he needed total cooperation.

Katara knew he was nervous. He wasn't sure how they would receive him, even though Chief Hakoda had promised to convince them of Zuko's integrity and honor. Katara sat beside him on Appa's saddle, watching quietly as Aang and Toph laughed and chattered happily together at the reins. Although she had kissed Aang after Sozin's Comet, their relationship had somehow settled back into its old pace instead of growing into something more. Katara didn't know how or why Aang's feelings for her could have faded so easily, and it left her feeling sad and lonely.

Thinking about it brought back the depression. Katara sighed deeply and leaned back against the saddle.

"What's the matter?" Zuko asked, a bit detached in his anxiety.

"Nothing," Katara replied, trying to give him a reassuring smile but failing miserably. The depression hit harder this time, as it always did when Aang was in view, but worse because of his seemingly innocent interaction with a girl who was not only his own age, but who was little by little becoming more girlish and mature. Toph wore her hair down nowadays; she started doing it out of nowhere a couple of months ago, around the time when Aang began hanging around her more often.

Zuko sensed that Katara wasn't telling the truth, but he didn't press the matter. After a moment's silence, Katara figured she needed to stop worrying about Aang and give a little comfort to Zuko.

"The villagers aren't going to chase you out with spears and ice picks," she told him teasingly.

Zuko fixed his gaze on a flock of pelican-geese floating lazily by. "I'm not worried about that. I....I'm worried that they'll be afraid of me, like all those villagers in the Earth Kingdom."

"They won't be," Katara assured him, "Dad and the other warriors gave you their word that they would handle it. You trust them, don't you?"

"Yes, of course. But that doesn't help my nerves."

They sat there silently after that, but Zuko seemed grateful for Katara's concern.

The ride became boring very quickly. Katara tried to listen to Sokka, who was excitedly educating Suki on Water Tribe customs and all the people he and Katara grown up with, but Katara couldn't keep up. She wondered at how Suki could.

After a while, Katara dozed off. She must have slept for a long time, because when she woke up, the sky was pitch black. She realized that she was almost in Zuko's lap, which made her blush in embarrassment. Zuko didn't notice. He looked troubled.

"There's going to be a bad storm," he murmured to himself.

Katara sat up and looked around. The others were no longer conversing animatedly. The black sky, which she now realized was not caused by nightfall but consisted of heavy storm clouds, cast a shadow of dread over her, for reasons unknown.

As she stared up into the hovering darkness, the rain came.

It started with only a few drops, but rapidly became a stinging torrent. Since Aang was busy steering Appa, Katara stood up and tried to bend the water around them so that everybody would be protected from further soaking.

But something was horribly wrong. She couldn't bend the water.

"My bending's not working!" Katara shouted over a roar of thunder. Lightning struck nearby and temporarily blinded her. She lost her balance and fell back against Zuko. Katara's mumbled apology went unheard as another thunder clap accompanied a bolt of lighting.

She heard Aang's voice cry out, wrought with terror, "Appa, fly! What's wrong, buddy? Fly!"

Appa wasn't just descending - he was _falling_. Momo peeked his head out of Aang's shirt and screeched, his eyes wide with shock. Aang leaped up and moved his arms in an attempt to bend something, but the horrified look on his face told Katara that he was helpless, too.

"Hold on!" Sokka yelled at the top of his lungs, clutching Suki to him.

Taking his advice, they all grabbed the person nearest to them. Katara held tightly to Zuko, feeling more afraid than she ever had in her entire life.

Without bending, they would all die.

Katara shut her eyes and screamed.


	2. Stranded

**As you've probably noticed, I've changed it to third person. I realized that when I write in first person, I tend to forget that I'm supposed to be portraying a specific character and not myself, so I mess up the character's personality.**

**Maybe this will be better.  
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Katara was floating. Yes, floating. Floating in a pool of gray mist. She couldn't see. She couldn't hear. She couldn't breathe.

But it didn't bother her. It felt good, this shimmering gray pool. It was like being asleep, but aware of what was going on.

Wait. Was she dead? She wasn't breathing.

Katara tried to take in air, but it was like her throat was closed. Strange how her body wasn't in a state of panic.

Maybe she really was dead.

No! She couldn't be dead! She didn't want to die!

Katara struggled against the mist, struggled to reach the surface and breathe.

Breathe.....breathe!

Suddenly her eyes flew open to a bright blue sky and a deliciously warm sun. She gasped for breath, then realized she didn't need to. It felt like Katara had been breathing normally the whole time.

Was it just a nightmare?

Katara sat up slowly.

A beach?

How did she end up on a beach? And where were the others?

This was way too weird.

Katara stood up on wobbly legs and headed down the shoreline. She was worried out of my mind, wondering whether everyone was okay.

Please, please be okay....

She hadn't walked far when she met with a wonderful sight - two figures in the distance, coming in my direction.

"Sokka! Suki!" Katara shouted, waving her arms.

They all started running, and soon they were all hugging happily.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Sokka sighed. "Luckily, Suki was only a few feet away from me when I woke up."

Katara suddenly wondered whether they had dreamed of the gray mist, too. But before she could ask, Suki said, "We need to find everybody else. Let's keep walking down the beach - they're probably around here somewhere."

Katara hoped so.

It looked like everyone was popping up at once, because as soon as they started walking, Appa shoved his way out of the trees, with Momo, Aang, and Toph sitting on his back.

"Hey, down there!" Toph called with a grin. "You'll never guess!"

She slid expertly down from Appa and ran over to us.

"Take a good look, Katara," she said, sticking her face up close to Katara's.

She looked, but couldn't see anything different.

See. Wait a minute. Her eyes...instead of their usual milky paleness, they were dark and clear.

"You can see!" Katara exclaimed.

Toph looked positively delighted. "I know! Isn't it great? It totally makes up for not being able to earthbend!"

"You can't earthbend?" Sokka was confused. "Why not?"

Toph rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, "Gee, I don't know, maybe we landed on a magical island that took my bending away and gave me new eyes."

"Wait. What if that's really what this is?"

All heads turned towards Aang. Sokka and Toph looked incredulous, but Suki and Katara were both interested in that theory.

"A magical island that takes people's bending away? That's crazy." Sokka snorted.

Aang looked completely serious as he continued, "No, really, Sokka. I think this island has something to do with it. I can't bend at all, and normally, that only happens when I'm in the spirit world."

"Well, then," said Suki, "Maybe we're all in the spirit world."

Aang shook his head. "I don't think so. It doesn't feel like the spirit world."

"I can't bend either," Katara said. "It started when we were in the middle of that storm. It could have been the storm that did it."

Sokka laughed. "Yeah, right. You guys keep coming up with your ridiculous theories about nature working against your little magic powers. I'm gonna go get some of that mystery fruit and hope it doesn't kill me."

He headed toward a tall, twisted tree that held an overabundance of strange-looking blue fruit that resembled apples. They watched him for a minute, but Katara suddenly remembered something she should have thought of long ago.

"Wait a minute, we're still missing Zuko!" Katara blurted, starting to worry. What if he was floating in the ocean, or dangling from a tree, or being eaten by wild animals?

Why the hell was she so worked up about it when everybody else had been found without mishap? It was completely irrational.

Zuko was all right. He had to be.


End file.
